Twinkle Twinkle little star

Twinkle, twinkle little stars; how we wonder what you are. This is a thought that crosses the mind of most people who gaze at the golf ball perched high up on the Etisalat building, a prominent landmark on the skyline along the Dubai Creek There are many theories about the mechanism that causes this starry phenomenon. Some people think that the dome is covered with pieces of glass that reflect the stars in the sky, though that does not explain why they still shine on cloudy nights. Others conjecture that it is a concrete dome studded with light bulbs. A theory that raises further question about how many lights have been used, why do they appear to twinkle, how often do the bulbs need to be changed and how do the people who change them reach them?

The truth as usual is much simpler than these theories. The twinkling golf ball is in fact an architectural marvel conceived by Arthur Erickson Associates, a Toronto based company of consulting architects and planners, who designed the building itself. Although the idea of using the dome was conceived by them, the engineering design for the dome was carried out by Professor Croll of Sheffield University, UK. The actual fabrication and erection of the dome was executed by Light-Weight structures Ltd another UK-based company.

The golf ball like sphere, known in architectural terms as a radome, is hollow and was chosen by the architects as a housing for the telecom tower that sits on top of the building. A spherical design was preferred because it is a stable shape.

The radome itself is not concrete. It is a special design that uses preformed fibreglass panels of hexagonal shape bolted together. This in fact is what gives it that intriguing golf ball like appearance. The design makes it easy to repair or even replace individual panels without affecting the rest of the structure. The advantage of using fibreglass is that the dome can be easily washed and painted.

The starry effect is again the result of a simple yet ingenious mechanism. The radome is illuminated by small, clear plastic bullet lenses placed at each node of the dome. These lenses are connected to metal halide light sources through a network of optical fibre cables. Automatic shimmer wheels are placed at each of the halide lights. As the wheels rotate, the light supplied to the optical fibre cables gets momentarily interrupted resulting in the lovely twinkling effect.

Several such globes have been constructed all over the world for the purpose of air traffic control, weather radar, telecommunications and other applications. However for residents of the UAE these twinkling golf balls, perched atop the Etisalat buildings in every emirate of the UAE, are one of the most recognised and well loved symbols of the country.

And did you know:

- The radome was actually an ingenious device used by the architects to conceal the telecom towers on top of the buildings.

- The first such radome was constructed on top of the Etisalat Head quarters in Abu Dhabi.

- A total of 940 lenses have been used to illuminate the radome on Dubai Creek.

- 34 metal halide light fixtures are housed inside the dome. They have to be changed after being used for 6,000 hours.

- The gear and gearbox housing require replacement every two years to guard against malfunctioning of the shimmer wheels and the shimmer wheel motor needs to be changed every four years.

- All the regular maintenance work is carried out by Etisalat personnel who use specialised riggers to reach the lights in the top portion of the dome.